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Weapon Placement
Weapon placement, by definition, is the spawn locations of weapons in and around the map. Weapon placement plays a big role in the balance and flow of a map. It also provides another layer when it comes to in-game decision making for a player. It is essential to put weapon layouts and placements through a great deal of testing to be sure good balance and flow stays intact. Weapon placement is one of the most mundane aspects of map design, yet poor placement has the power to ruin an otherwise great map. How Weapon Placement Influences Gameplay When thinking about how to place an weapon in a map, what are some things we should consider? *Balance *Lines of sight *Timing of respawn *Timing to get to weapon off of their spawns These four, are the main things you want to be worring about when placing weapons. Take for example in Halo Reach the rockets are extremely powerful. They have a large blast radius and can dramatically change the tide in the middle of the game. Because the rockets have such a large splash area when a forger wants to place them on a map he should worry about low ceilings, small halways, extreme chokepoints, and the amount of damage just one rocket can do to a team within a short amount of time. Needless to say if you want a fast opening push towards a certain part of the map, the rockets will ensure that a knowlegable team will infact push hard for them and gain control. When placing a weapon on a map the lines of sight can dictate the way the battle plays. For example, if a player has a long line of sight down a hallway that he or she is guarding with a sniper rifle, they can completly shut down parts of the map. Because of this, the gameplay that insues is relativily slow because the opposing team is now forced to move in limmited dirrections. This can cause the opposing team to make a strong push on another side of the map to gain a better position without risking losing preasouse kills or time to rushing into a bad situation. The respawn timers on weapons is another crusial part of the way the game will be impacted by the forgers decisions. A fast spawning rocket launcher will normally have little ammo but promote faster gameplay because of the more numerous chance that the opposing team has to get them. While to a new designer this may sound great, at times it can become an up hill battle for the losing team and result in frustration and quiting. A good respawn timing on select weapons is crucial to the success of failure of a map. Keep in mind that every weapon holds a place in the sandbox when designing. Each weapon has its counter, and each weapon has its advantages. When placing a weapon make sure that each team has a equal chance to equip themselves with that weapon. "Complex" weapon balance is thing such as, shorter running time for one team but the other gets a better line of sight on the other. Another great example of complex weapon ballance is one team has a better chance at getting the rocket launcher while the other get a sniper. While these are some of the various combinations it is advised that new level designers start off with easier weapon ballencing and allowing a neutral weapon to be fought over. General Tips *Neutral weapons are weapons that each team has an equal shot at getting off of the spawns. So make sure to keep the time between spawns and bases relatively close to being the same. *Basic starting weapons should be easy to find and should be placed in bases. Some of these weapons can be considered the Assult Rifle (AR), the Designated Markman Rifle (DMR), the M6 Pistol, the Plasma Pistol, and the Needle Rifle (NR). *Generally symetrical maps will have one or two neutral weapons to help promote player movement. *If forging a map for MLG, the only weapons placed are genrally the Designated Markman Rifle (DMR), the M6 Pistol, the Plasma Pistol, and the Needle Rifle (NR) on normal spawns, plus the Rockets, the Grenade Launcher , and Sniper Rifle on drop spawns. While forgin for MLG in mind, keep note that each weapon has specific quallities that it should retain. Such as weapon respawn, and drop spawning of the given weapon. Things to Watch Out For *Weapons shouldn't necessarily be placed in the ideal position to use them. This includes but is not limited to, placing Sniper rifles on top of "Sniper Towers" or on power positions, placing Shotguns, Swords or Gravity Hammers in tunnels or close quarters areas, placing Rockets on high platforms, and placing Concussion Rifles in narrow hallways. Power weapons should always be used to promote movement, but bad placement does the opposite. *Maps that having too many power weapons can have a problem, and maps with too little power weapons can have problems as well. Too many weapons can compound the advantage of players who already have power weapons. They grab rockets, for example, and use them to get the shotgun, which they use to get invisibility. Too few weapons can lead to stale gameplay where players do not need to move.